[RNG] Diverse Textures Project

Have you ever thought how boring it is to see the very same character again and again, with the same bandana, same armour, same clothing, same beard, same legs?

Never fear. Even though you still can't customize your characters, you CAN get this mod which will make you get a randomized character every time you play. NEVER hardly if ever will you see the very same character with the same beard colour, the same clothing or the same armour and so on.

All classes are included and I tried my best to make them diverse. Some are too subtle while others are very prominent.

Of course, words mean nothing and this may be just another "10 skins for one model", but trust me, it IS 10 skins for one model YET it looks like it's from other models

Download link; Go to the bottom of THIS post, under "Current [RNG] Packs".

How to install?
1. Extract the .rar file given, you will get "[RNG] Diverse Characters.vpk"
2. Go to where PVKII is at, which should be "Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\pirates, vikings and knights ii\pvkii\custom"
3. Put "[RNG] Diverse Characters.vpk" into that folder, "custom" (If you don't have it, just make it)
4. You should be done, get in game and try it out.

FOR OTHER MODDERS:
The method I did to do this is actually relatively easy. Of course you got the whole permission to do whatever you want with this pack, except selling it or claiming it purely as your own. I will make a guide on how to do it some day, since this IS indeed very interesting and probably worth it.

Now if you guys don't mind, I would actually like to keep this organized. If you're going to make a skin-pack that uses this randomizer method, please put it on this thread and I will add it on the front page. If not, then at least when you're making a thread, put [RNG] at the start.

If you need help, you can ask me, but don't forget that there is (or will be) a guide about it!

ABOUT IDEAS:
There are probably so many ideas and so many things to do with this randomizer thingy. Sadly, I may not have the time, the desire, the idea or even the imagination to do it. Hell, if you take a look at the details down below, you'll see that Huscarl got the least variety of all. If you know any good ideas, I can add them. Be wary that I only accept a max of 10 textures, even though you can use more than that (I think the max is 50)

And you can even use different models for it! Problem is, we haven't got any custom models at all. I can only do textures, not models, so, if you're a modeller and got a good idea, to tell me and/or show me what you got.

As for an idea of mine...In the future, I'd like to make a lot of packs of [RNG]. A huge pack that has over 20 diverse skins for all classes, a pack that makes the diversion looks very huge even if it's just 10 skins, a pack that makes diverses look subtle even though it's 20 and so on.

The one I made? I just call it "[RNG] Diverse Characters", if you want it to be more specific, let's just call it the "Normal" pack.

Of course, did I mention I accept suggestions?

KNOWN BUGS(?)
- If you kill somebody, there's a high chance the texture he had will be different afterwards. For example, killing a Black Captain might make him go Ginger Captain.
- Sometimes what you see in the class selection menu won't be you. That is, if you go third-person, it may be it, but when you look at the legs, not really.
- You will VERY RARELY experience some "texture twitching", that is you'll keep seeing a small animation of differential textures. This is just because of how the script works, don't worry as you will never see it after seeing it first time ingame.

ABQ (Answers Before Questions):
Q: Will this be official some day?
A: Not sure, I talked to some of the devs about it. They sure loved the idea, but I told them myself that this needs to be further "tested". Surely in the long, long future they will add it...Or not, instead something better than this (a REAL customizer!)

Q: How come I still see like 4 guys that look the same? (And I'm not blind, I can see 4 Berserkers with the same Blond beard)
A: This is a very random randomizer, it doesn't mean you will never see 2 guys the same, it just means that it will be very rare for you to see more than 3 guys looking identical.

Q: Will this decrease my performance?
A: Highly unlikely. The performance will probably remain the same.

Q: Just how many varieties are there?
A: As mentioned in the IDEAS category, a lot. There can be more than 50 varieties.
In the "Normal" pack, you get from as low as 4 to as high as 10. That may not be much, but still, it is something, right? Or maybe it IS much.

Q: Can I make a skin suggestion?
A: Yes.

Q: Can I make a skin pack with this randomizer feature thingy?
A: Yes.

Q: Can I extract your .pvk and see how you did this?
A: Yes. Will I one day be called Yesman? I hope not!

Got a question I didn't answer? Ask me here in this thread.

HUGE THANKS
Huge thanks goes to a person called "Ellie", a modder from L4D2. He is the one who helped me learn how to do this RNG thingy.
Another big thanks goes to "Corvalho", our somehow-recent sexy (not him, his skills!) modeller, for unintentionally making me get interested with this. (Story goes like this; I was searching in my Friends' Activities, then I saw Corvalho favouriting a high-def L4D2 Pipe Bomb mod, I got into it to read it out and I found out that there's actually a mod that makes it so you can have pipebombs with different light colours and such. Then I learned how to do this by Ellie intervening)

If anybody would like to try the "Diverse Models" project, this is what you have to do;

Get a player model from PVKII, for example the Archer

Add various other models to it, for example an archer hat, pauldrons, etc whichever (the less goofy the better) BE CAREFUL OF POLYGON LIMIT

When all the models are set, make sure you set all of them transparent except the original itself (in this example it would be the Archer player model)

Compile it as .smd and .mdl, with its .qc

This way, we can get "diverse models" as the title says. Sometimes you might see an archer with pauldrons, sometimes not, sometimes with a hat, sometimes not and so on.

It is a harder method to do and, as you can see, it needs a lot more work than just texture editing and such.

Right now one of the ideas we got is...

Arrows on the shield - Will make more sense if they're on a Huscarl's/Gestir's shield. Arrows from an enemy Knight Archer, these guys never had time to remove it or they just got them recently.

"Character Armor Diversity" Project

This project will be a lot more complex (offering higher quality) than "Diverse Characters", yet lower in quantity.
If you don't like how "Diverse Characters" only has changes on colour regarding skin, beard, clothing and even just pattern changes and the like, you MIGHT like this more.There will be NO CHANGES TO THE MODEL but there will be obvious changes to the texture itself.A great example would be the Huscarl. Knowing Viking history, the most commonly used heavy armour was Chainmail and Scalemail. With "Character Armor Diversity", you can expect to see Huscarl's wearing Chainmail, as usual, OR Huscarl's wearing Scalemail, maybe even a very rare variety that has GOLD Scalemail.

If anybody would like to try the "Diverse Models" project, this is what you have to do;

1. Get a player model from PVKII, for example the Archer
2. Add various other models to it, for example an archer hat, pauldrons, etc whichever (the less goofy the better) BE CAREFUL OF POLYGON LIMIT3. When all the models are set, make sure you set all of them transparent except the original itself (in this example it would be the Archer player model)
4. Compile it as .smd and .mdl, with its .qc

Berserker;
One new randomizer, "Pants"! Brown, Purple, Red or Green. Improved the beards, they should look a lot better in close range. Added three new variants that have fancy "Knot" tattoos.

Huscarl;
Improved the beards, they should look less plastic. Added a new beard colour; "Brown Beard". Also added different other varieties, such as his clothing colour being Brown, Purple, Red or Green.

Gestir;
Improved the beards, they should look less plastic and more fit for an old man. Added some new variants, including his clothing being Red, Purple, Brown or Green, with his pants being Brown, Gray or Tanned-green.

Finally, the vikings are as diverse as the others. Huscarl really needed something else than just beards.

Changelog;Actualization(Important)
This is just an update to the shaders so they use the latest ones from the latest update, which make them look better of course as well as avoids any conflict with "DebuffEffect" and "PlayerTint".

Please make sure you get this update as soon as you can.

Also added some new stuff;VikingsBerserker
- Removed the "Fenrir" wolf pack as it really seemed too fantasy even for a game like this.
- Added two new wolf fur varieties, the Brown Wolf and the Arctic Wolf (Canis Lupus Arctos).

PiratesSkirmisher
- Added two new varieties

Sharpshooter
REVAMPED!
* Should now have 10 variety of shirts.
- Shirt can be white, red, gray and rarely blue and pink.
- Vest can be Red or Black/Gray.
- The red clothing off the belt can be red, black, gray or rarely blue.
* Should now have 10 variety of faces.
- "White Skin" faces have a better shader unlike before
- Added a new "Manly Black" face, with a beard.

Changelog;Actualization(Important)
This is just an update to the shaders so they use the latest ones from the latest update, which make them look better of course as well as avoids any conflict with "DebuffEffect" and "PlayerTint".

Please make sure you get this update as soon as you can.

Also added some new stuff;PiratesCaptain
- Added some new variety and replaced a few, check the list.

Skirmisher
- Added some new variety and replaced a few, check the list.

Sharpshooter
- Added some new variety and replaced a few, check the list.

Knights
Heavy Knight
- Added some new variety and replaced a few, check the list.

I've found a better RNG method that should allow Corpses to display the same texture you just killed. No longer will you see a White-Cloth Archer suddenly change to Dark-Blue, hopefully.
Since I wasn't able to find it working, I'm going to make a TEST version in the workshop, for everybody to try.

Changelog;"Full Package"
The pack should finally be considered as "Done"!

Every model now has 10+1 textures, ALL of them (except some very few nobody cares so much about).

The new stuff added...;Vikings

Berserker
- Completely redid the beards, they should be a lot more detailed now.
- Replaced most of the skins to have more basic, but more realistic-looking, tattoos.
- Added a Rare variety, "Growling Wolf", dark-skinned Berserker.
- [EXTRA] (This will come to 3.6) Better normal map, better RTNL and better Hand textures!

Gestir
- Completely redid the beards, they should now have way better detail.
- One new beard variety, Brown-haired.
- Rare beard variety that also includes a nice gold helm.
- Completely redid the clothings, so they're a lot more colour-based and unique, with other small additions.
- Rare clothing variety, white-clothing with a fancy Viking tattoo.

I'm looking for "photographers", if you're good with screenshots and got some cool screenshots that showcase this mod, please inform me and we'll see how I can add them here.(Disclaimer: Should be obvious actually but still, I will NOT pay for screenshots)

By the way, I got some complaints about some of the skins, specifically Vikings, the RARE black-skinned variety.

First of all, if you don't like it because of 'historical value', you can feck off as well as go feck yourself crying about how your prostate is white.
Why? Because black people exist, existed and are everywhere. But here's the thing, it's just a skin colour.
Maybe you find it disgusting, maybe you find it creepy/scary, maybe you think it looks like shirley 'cos black-skinned people are generally brown-toned as well. Your problem.
I like what I did to the dark skins and I'm going to keep it, I don't care if YOU like it or not, you are simply a repressed racist, who is way worse than a repressed homosexual.(Like this post if you are against racism)

For those who OBJECTIVELY don't like it (For example, the skin is too dark that it is literally PITCH black), just tell me and give me a screenshot that you can prove it.